Category Archives: Personal

There will be no white Christmas in Holland this year. So I will share some winter travel photography with snowy moments for more holiday mood.

Precisely one year ago my husband and I made a short trip to Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) in Czech Republic. It is a charming spa town, and we spent wonderful time there. The weather was also perfect for a winter holiday. There came a snowfall and the next day the trees and colorful houses where decorated with a layer of snow snow.

Last summer I spent a day in Stralsund, a picturesque Hanseatic town. One of its biggest attractions is Ozeaneum, which is quite new, only 10 years old. It combines an aquarium and a fantastic oceanographic museum. If you happen to be in this region, I would highly recommend visiting it.

Naturally, I took a camera with me to this spectacular attraction. One of the displays that left me totally fascinated was dedicated to jellyfish. It presented the jellyfish in beautiful spotlights, and their movement mesmerized me. I spent quite a time admiring these creatures while most visitors quickly moved on to see a spectacular shark on the opposite side.

Something different than family photography today. I wanted to share inspiring moments from my holiday travel more often but still lag behind. However, this trip is quite recent, just a month ago. My husband and I had a short but fantastic visit to Austria and Italy. We had discovered that autumn with its colors is a great time to visit Tyrol, and we were also blessed with unusually warm and sunny days.

Here are some photos I made during a walk in Wipptal, next to Obernberg am Brenner. We had walked there before, and it’s one of my favorite walking routes in Tyrol. But it was our first time there at this time of the year. I enjoyed both the views and the rich color palette.

The winter is around the corner, and “Winterreise” is the theme of the upcoming exhibition at the Sehnsucht Gallery in Rotterdam. I am happy to have my work exhibited among beautiful and inspiring photography by other artists, both Dutch and international.

Galerie Sehnsucht is dedicated specifically to photographic art, and I like both the style of the works exhibited there and the pleasant atmosphere of the place. The gallery is located in a historical building: the Hofbogen bows below the former railway line.

This week I have a nice round number of photos in my Vogue Italy portfolio: exactly one hundred. The latest photos you can see there were shot on film in the Loet forest, and today I want to share them as a series.

In the past months I had this new addiction, and you could often see me shooting analogue with my nice new (old) Rolleiflex. I often walk in the Loet forest in Krimpenerwaard, not too far from Rotterdam. This nature reserve was created in the fifties when some polders where “given back to nature”. It has become a beautiful quiet area with varied flora and fauna. You can walk or cycle through a number of picturesque paths enjoying whatever season it is and observing the nature.

In the past months it had been not only portrait and family photo sessions that kept me nicely busy. I have visited some really inspiring places and believe I want to share my travel photography more often from now on. There are some new art projects I will also share later. Another thing that kept me from blogging and social media lately is analogue photography. After a long brake I began shooting with my old Russian Zenith-E camera and its manual lens (that provides interesting results on a digital camera too).

You might remember I wanted to share more photos from my Venetian holiday. Venice is so full of inspiration for me I just could not fit my favorite impressions of it into a single post! Here come more images, a mix of tourist attractions, shabby corners, glamourous shop windows, old and modern art.

When I seek another word for ‘music’, I never find any other word than ‘Venice’.

As a native Russian I miss one thing in the Netherlands: snow in the winter. Each time it snows here it feels like a gift (I don’t’ talk about traffic collapses now). I am brought back into my childhood with all its joy. Except, at the time my toys did not include a camera. You got it right: here come some photos!

I promised to share more travel photography on my blog and had announced a photo story of my trip to Venice.

“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.”

Truman Capote

Venice is undoubtedly one of my favorite destinations. It is full of history, poetry and music. It’s vibrant and melancholic, magnificent and shabby, loud and still. True mystique, romance, art and kitsch are all mixed in this city. Each hour and kind of light evokes its own magic here. It even feels as if different times and worlds coexist in this misty air.

I mainly use this blog to feature portrait and family sessions, but believe I should be sharing my travel photos more often.

When I am back from holidays it usually gets busy right away. It takes me a while to look through the photos I made on vacation, and then it’s already a time ago… Fine, I’ll try to work on it right now.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Italy and also visited Venice. I am crazy about this city and will make a special issue with the views of Venice itself and also of some historic Venetian villas outside the city.

Today I wanted to share something different: a few images from my experimental series. The preliminary title is “Pastel”. When I used to paint and draw pastel was one of my favorite mediums because of its softness.

During my last holidays in France I started a new series inspired by pastel. These photos are created using long shutter speed. It was not meant to show the existing movement. Actually, the idea was quite the opposite this time: adding movement to still objects and scenes. I moved my camera, let it kind of dance, to achieve this vagueness and softness of lines, faded shapes and mixing colors.

The night alley with dark blue sky (“Chorus”) had lately received an Honorable mention at the International Color Awards, and the Chinese vase was published in my online Vogue portfolio a few days ago. Hear are some more photos.

The winter is definitely gone now. It smells like spring, and the first snowdrops opened in my garden. Before saying hello to spring I want to say good-buy to winter. There was little snow in Holland this winter but I do have some fairy-tale winter pictures from last month. Made in the Ardennes (you know my love for this region). I always crave for some snow in the winter, and in the Ardennes there was plenty for my eyes to feast on. My Russian soul was happy!

Last year I had a joy and a privilege of photographing wonderful people and families and create special memories and personal photo art for them. Sharing my knowledge via personal photography workshops and mentoring is also something I enjoyed at lot. I love meeting new people, learning from them and making new friends. And I am very happy to see my clients coming back regularly. I sincerely subscribe to the fact that my clients are simply the best – most pleasant, warm, fun and stylish people!

I had an honor of winning the silver price at the MIFA (Moscow Photo Awards, Fine Art category), getting an honorable mention at the IPA (International Photo Awards), and three nominations at the Black and White Spider Awards. MIFA’s winners work is exhibited throughout the year at various locations, alone and together with IPA winners works. My other works traveled to the Berlin Photo Biennale and the Parallax Art Fair in London. In Berlin and London I met some great artists, made new friends and got a lot of inspiration.

I am thrilled with a recent online “Portals” feature at the Dodho magazine. It is also great seeing my work in the Berlin Foto Biennale catalogue by Kehrer Verlag publishers. The images from the Hariban awards 2015 were published this year in a very special catalogue: a limited edition of 80 hand-printed on Japanese Gampi & Mitsumata rice paper with traditional Japanese bookbinding. Such a book is a small artwork in itself. Finally, it was fun to see four or my photos on the book covers: a mystery novel and a love one, a thriller and a poetry bundle.

I am full of new ideas and look forward to the new year and new challenges! Thank you so much for your support and inspiration!

Wishing you and your family a healthy, joyful and prosperous year 2017!

If you love photography, Berlin is a place to be in October with the European Month of Photography Berlin (EMOP). Its associate partner is Berlin Foto Biennale (4th Biennale of Fine Art and Documentary Photography) that will open to the public on 6 October and run until 30 October.

The Biennale will promote emerging and established photographers from all over the world and present works by 440 artists. It will be the largest collective photo exhibition in Europe taking place at the same venue! The theme of the exhibition is “Emotions & Commotions Across Cultures”. Famous Magnum photographer Steve McCurry, the author of the iconic portrait of an Afghan girl, will be the special guest with a retrospective exhibition curated by Magnum photos.

It is an honour for me to be selected to present my work at the Berlin Foto Biennale being invited among the winners and selected nominees of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers. I am thrilled that my fine art photography – three images from my “Portals” series – will be exhibited next to the work of so many talented international artists.

A catalogue of the Foto Biennale will be available soon, printed by a renowned art publisher Kehrer Verlag. I am really proud to have my work in it, among the Biennale artists and in the same volume with a great name like Steve McCurry.

The Biennale will be take place at the historic Palazzo Italia (also known as Roemischer Hof) in the center of Berlin, not far from the Brandenburg Gate and the museum quarter, on the corner of Charlottenstrasse (address: Unter den Linden 10).

I am happy to be able to join the artist reception on October, 6th, and the Gala Dinner where Steve McCurry will be the keynote speaker.

If you happen to visit Berlin in the coming month, do not miss the Foto Biennale and the dozens of gallery exhibitions of the EMOP!

If you happen to be in London in the coming days, you are invited to visit the Parallax Art Fair at the Chelsey Old Town Hall.
It will run on weekend 23-24 July. The entry is free! If you are around you I would be happy to welcome you at my stand where I have some works from the “Portals” series.

More than 4000 photographers from around the world joined this prestigious photography competition. I am very happy to be among the winners, amazing and most inspiring international photographers.

My “Florals” series was awarded the 2nd place in the Fine Art category and the 1st place in the Still Life sub-category. This is a real honour for me.

The 60 works from the 40 main winners (including my “Florals” project) are presented at the “Na Kashirke” art gallery in Moscow. Unfortunately, today I had to miss the opening ceremony supported by the Moscow Government and the Lucie Awards Foundation, a famous photography organisation.
If you are in Moscow in the coming weeks, you are most welcome to visit this exposition covering all photography genres.

Today it is not portraits I want to share with you but some photos I made during my recent holiday in Moscow. My husband joined me this time and I wanted to show him a place he had not seen before: a site that startles and impresses the few Western tourists who get there.

I am talking about VDNKh. This name is the Russian abbreviation of the Exhibition of Achievements of the People’s Economy. It is a large park in the Northern outskirt of Moscow. With its total area of 207 hectares (that is excluding the botanic garden territory recently merged with the park) it is greater than the whole Principality of Monaco.

Today I proudly want to introduce a special product I offer to my clients since last year. Apart from all kinds of prints and albums you can now also choose a collection of art mattes in a deluxe box. It already gained big fans among my clients! This is a luxurious product handmade in Italy using exclusive technologies not available elsewhere. The technique includes printing directly on art mattes of various colors so that each image appears matted in an elegant and ornate way.

Dear friends, as the year is coming to the end I would like to thank you for all your support and inspiration throughout the year.

I hope it was a good year for you. For me it definitely was: I love what I do and somehow I am always lucky to work with the most awesome families and individuals. It’s great to meet new people and to see back my old clients coming back with new kids, family events and personal projects. It is a blessing to make people happy!

I was also very busy with my personal art projects and proudly want to share with you my last year achievements 🙂

In 2015 I took part in several group expositions: in New York City, Budapest, Rotterdam, Texas and Vermont. My child portraits got a Juror’s Selection and an Honorable Mention at the New York Center for Photographic Art.

Then there were 2 Honourable mentions for my “Portals” and “Florals” series at the Fine Art Photography Awards 2015/2016 (FAPA).

At Kyoto, Japan, “Portals” series received the Master Printer Award of the Hariban Award 2015 of the Benrido Collotype Atelier (I am looking forward to see my works printed in a very special book now being produced by the Benrido).

I was honored to be among the nominees of The Charles Dodgson Black and White Award, The 10th Black and White Spider Awards and The 7th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers. The jury of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award has also selected me to exhibit my art at the forthcoming Biennale of the Fine Art Photography in Berlin in October 2016.

In September I had my first solo exposition at the Sophie Maree gallery in The Hague with my “Portals” project and then took part in the Annual Dutch Art Fair in Amsterdam where I was chosen from 250 amazing artists for the first prize: the AXA Art Talent Award.

Finally, apart from exhibition catalogues I had my work published in the “Zebra Monochrome” (issue 2) and “Shots” magazine (Nr. 127 and 129).

As my PhD supervisor has an anniversary this year, a book is published in his honour and I was invited to participate. So I wrote and published a scholarly article on Renaissance culture again.

As you can see, my year was busy and fruitful! I have lots of new ideas for the next year too and hope I will find enough time for all!

Thank you again! I wish you and your dear ones a wonderful and healthy year full of love, happiness and fun!

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